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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27248161">smiling down at the world below</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kriber/pseuds/Kriber'>Kriber</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Gen, M/M, Superheroes, follows the smp plotline, ill add more tags later, with a few of my own twists</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 23:55:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>13,913</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27248161</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kriber/pseuds/Kriber</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Welcome, one and all, to the wonderful land of Essempeia! This lovely city is a fantastic place to be, if you don't mind the occasional criminal here and there. But it's ok, we have several teams of superheroes to take care of all the crime in the city. They protect us here! Care to listen to their stories? I'm sure it'll be a BLAST!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Clay | Dream &amp; Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Floris | Fundy &amp; Wilbur Soot, Wilbur Soot &amp; TommyInnit, Zak Ahmed &amp; Darryl Noveschosch, ill add fwt later when its important, platonic or romantic skephalo take it as you will</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>98</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. crash landing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hi guys i'm here with my huge ass superhero au bc i'm weak for this trope and had to replicate it with mcyt. i'll be explaining certain lore parts as they come up, as they can be a bit. lengthy fdsfggfsdhdaf</p><p>i'm a stupid little dream stan so he will be the focus for a while until wilbur and co come into the picture, at which point the perspectives start to change a little bit. expect a lot of angst as well lmao bc damn the smp storyline is prime content</p><p>speaking of the smp plotline, this story is gonna both loosely and strictly follow it. certain parts are specific to how the smp goes, some parts will be a bit more,,,, my interpretation or my own plot, so whatever comes by, i hope yall enjoy owo</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>About 20 years before the main story, a young couple was taking a walk through the woods. Their identities are not important, nor is it wise to reveal them for no reason, so let’s call them Alice and Eve for now. In any case, Alice and Eve were walking when a strange light caught the corner of Eve’s eye. As she pointed it out to her partner, the light intensified and headed towards them. They ducked out of the way as the light crashed down a little bit behind them.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“The hell was that?” Eve yelled, lifting her hand from her face. Alice rubbed her eyes free of dust and light specks. She ducked under Eve’s arm and headed in the direction of the light, to which Eve made a noise of retaliation.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Babe, don’t head IN the direction of the weird fucked up light!” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t you want to see what it is? Maybe it came from space, like an asteroid or something!” Alice had always been a space geek, so Eve sighed and followed her to the light. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As they got to the clearing, they saw that the light was dying down. What was left in the wake of the crash was what looked like an alien spacecraft, shaped like an egg with a ring at the center. Alice gave a delighted gasp, going slightly forward to poke it, despite Eve’s hisses of protest and shock. As Alice poked the spacecraft, it released a whole lot of steam and smoke and collapsed into multiple pieces.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>In the wreckage of the smoke was a single strange being. It was tiny, about the size of a small cat or a squirrel, and it was, essentially, a blob. As the smoke cleared up, the couple could make out that it was pure white, had no arms, and had stubby little legs. Black beady eyes blinked open, and as the smoke entirely vanished, it yawned, the inside of its mouth a bright neon green. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh my god it’s an alien,” Alice’s eyes couldn’t be wider as she stared at the creature. “It’s an actual genuine alien.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Pff- what? There’s- there’s no way that’s a real alien,” Eve tried to reason, eyes never leaving the supposed alien. She snaked her hand into her partner’s, who grasped it heartily. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh come on, Eve!” Alice pointed at the alien, who was now looking around curiously. “What else could it be if not an alien?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“...a weird albino rat?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Babe you and I both know that’s not a rat. This is an alien.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“But- it can’t be-” she was cut off by Alice kneeling down to see the little alien face to face. It finally seemed to notice her and let out a little squeak. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Look at how cute it is, babe!!!” Alice cooed. “It’s so small!!!” As they observed it, they saw a squirrel run up to the spacecraft. The alien turned its head to it, and as the rodent warily sniffed it, it headbutted it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eve gave a gasp in alarm as the squirrel squeaked and fell still. She’d thought it killed it if the squirrel didn’t get up a few seconds later and ran off. “The fuck???” Eve muttered.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>That’s when the alien did… a weird thing. It started glowing white, face vanishing, and its shape began to completely change. Eve and Alice stared at it in wonder as it slowly turned into… a baby squirrel. White, just like the alien originally was, but definitely not like the normal brown squirrel that just ran off. It chirruped and looked at its new limbs (since it was armless in its original form), tail twitching. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Alice lost all self control and crawled over to it, extending a hand out for it to sniff. As it turned its attention to her, it glowed white again and turned into its weird blob form. Eve watched cautiously from the back, making sure neither of them did anything bad.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually, the alien jumped into her hand, nestling in it perfectly. Alice seemed to almost melt from it, turning to her partner with teary eyes. Eve, deeming the alien harmless for now, walked over to them and sat down in the pine needles next to Alice. The alien squeaked again, cocking its head.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Then it jumped up and headbutted Alice in the forehead. She exclaimed in pain, falling on her back. “Alice!” Eve leaned over, only to see her partner’s eyes glassy and unfocused. A few seconds (and wary shakes) later, Alice blinked and pushed herself back up. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ow,” she groaned. Eve shot a glare at the alien, who looked pretty unconcerned with the current situation. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You ok?” Eve asked, still glaring at the alien.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yea, it’s not that strong,” Alice replied, rubbing her head. “Don’t worry. And stop looking so mean, it’s scared of you.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It just headbutted you!” Despite that, she turned and saw that the alien did indeed look scared. Then it started glowing again. It grew slightly, and a few seconds later, the glow faded and what sat in its place was… a human baby.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It couldn’t have been older than a year old, with pale skin coated in freckles, messy dirty blonde hair, and bright green eyes. At this point, it could also be seen that this alien was a boy, to which Alice blushed and covered it- him, with her jacket. He grasped onto it with chubby fingers, eyes wide in wonder. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s just a baby…” Alice realized, picking him up in her arms. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“A baby, sure, but a baby alien, who can also apparently shapeshift!” Eve ran a hand through her hair. “What the hell is this evening?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“...We should probably get home soon,” Alice said. She rocked the (baby) alien in her arms, and he chirped in response. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What, with that?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“He’s a baby!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“He’s an alien!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You realize if other people find him, they’re going to do bad things to him?” Alice frowned, hugging the child close. “People don’t like aliens. I mean, look at how they treat demons! Do you think they’d treat this guy the same? Or better?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eve frowned as she thought about this. Every sci-fi movie she’d seen informed her of aliens being found and immediately being dissected and studied. As much as she was wary of this shapeshifter, she didn’t want him to face that hell. And by looking in his hopeful eyes (Alice’s too), her resolve weakened and weakened, until it came crashing down. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She sighed. “Fine, we can keep him.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Alice gasped in delight. “Aww, I knew you’d come around!” She gave her partner a one-armed hug, the baby gurgling at the sudden movement. Eve hugged back, then saw flashlight beams peaking through the trees.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yea, yea, I came around, now let’s get going before someone else does.” She ushered Alice out of the woods, cautious of the child in her arms. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>About 20 minutes later, they found themselves at their house. The baby, back to his true form (though clad in a doll dress Alice found in some of her old toy boxes in the attic), ran around the place, investigating absolutely everything. The family dog, a big husky, sniffed him generously when he came in, and hadn’t left his side since.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this,” Eve muttered into her arms, head on the table. “Are we actually adopting an alien as our child.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Shouldn’t be any different from a normal child, right?” Alice shrugged.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eve glared up at her. “This is. A literal. ALIEN. We have no idea what he eats, or what he needs to do to live. This is the antonym of a ‘normal child.’”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Alice huffed. “We’ll figure it out somehow. Besides, you said wanted a child, right?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I was thinking about it, yes, but I didn’t think our first child would be an alien.” As Eve looked over to where he was running around, she saw a tiny white puppy running around their dog. “And a shapeshifter, at that.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Alice placed a hand on her partner’s arm, prompting her to look up. “I’m sure we’ll handle it. We’ve been through worse.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yea, you’re right,” Eve laughed. “I’m sure this’ll be easy as pie.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. dreamer</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Now 20 years into the future, caught up with the present, our little alien is all grown up. And he's running.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i'm gonna try and update this at least once a week since i have many wips and i want to keep a consistant schedule with shorter chapters so i dont get overwhelmed lmao</p>
<p>anyways here comes a bit of a roadblock for my writing style this fic. certain names are going to be censored, for both my comfort and for contextual things. in context, sap and dream don't reveal their identities to anyone but themseves and like 2 other ppl (find out later), so their names are censored. they're superheroes who much more prefer their titles than their names, and they're just like that. also i feel weird calling them by their real names lmaooo</p>
<p>█ &lt;- is what im using to censor them. 4 of these (████) is sapnap, 6 of them (██████) is dream. dream's is slightly longer and sap's is shorter. just for translating sakes. sorry for ppl that want to see their real names but i'm just ✨uncomfortable with their real names✨</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“████!!!” A young man threw the door open to his house, panting heavily. His dirty blonde hair was wild and messy, and he looked pretty sweaty. A green jacket hung off his shoulders haphazardly as he slammed the door shut. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“██████? Jesus you look like hell,” his roommate commented from the couch, surprised to see him just break in like that. He fixed his headband, pushing fluffy black hair out of his eyes, and turned himself around to see ██████ in the doorway. “Why are you so sweaty?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, I ran the entire way from downtown,” ██████ explained, flopping down on the couch next to ████. “You will not believe what the hell I just did.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Humor me. What’s got you sprinting all the way from downtown? How are you not tired?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Leftover adrenaline. You got any water?” ████ rolled his eyes and gave his roommate a water bottle, who chugged the entire thing down in one go. He wiped his mouth and took a deep breath. “Ok so. I did a thing.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright? C’mon man, don’t leave me hanging here.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I. Saved. A woman’s. Purse.” ██████ explained. ████ looked less than impressed. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You saved someone’s purse?” ████ crossed his arms. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yea, some thief took a lady’s bag, so I turned into a dog and chased after them,” ██████ swirled his water bottle. “She gave me a head scratch after it.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I thought you were a massive introvert and never talked to anyone but me and your mamas,” ████ said. “You just… shapeshifted? On purpose?? In </span>
  <em>
    <span>public???</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“One, I shapeshifted in private. The lady only knew a dog helped her. Second, I’m still a massive introvert. I have one whole friend.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yea, and that’s me,” ████ laughed. His roommate laughed along and gave him a friendly punch on the arm. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“But like- ████, it felt really good?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Saving a purse or getting a head scratch?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Both, but mostly the first one.” He ran a hand through his hair. “It felt fucking amazing, dude. The adrenaline, the thrill of the chase, it felt great!” He let out a whoop of delight and fell back, draping over the armrest.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You can run track and get the same feeling?” ████ kicked his leg gently.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t get it, man. It was the feeling of like… I don’t know, being a hero? I guess? Kinda hard to describe it.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So- what, you wanna be like The Blade?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>██████ snorted disdainfully. “FUCK The Blade. If I was a hero I wouldn’t be anything like him. Fuck him.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, I get it dude, you hate The Blade,” ████ waved him off. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“For good reason!” ██████ got up and started pacing. “He’s a vigilante, not a superhero. His methods are fucked up and I’m pretty sure killing is not above his moral code.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The Blade was the code name of Essempeia’s local vigilante. All people knew about him was that he appeared mostly at night, he’s rarely caught on camera, and he always carries a shining sword. Even criminals that survived his ire couldn’t say much, aside from the fact that he had pure white eyes behind his pig-like mask. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was his methods of “heroism” that ██████ disliked the most. He was cruel and merciless, going as far as to kill to serve justice, or whatever he counted as justice. Blood was on his hands, and ██████ absolutely hated that skewed sense of righteousness. The Blade was also nicknamed the Blood God by his devoted fans, those that existed. There was a whole group on Reddit, so clearly he had fans. ██████ wasn’t one of them, that’s for sure.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>████ rolled his eyes. “So are you becoming a hero to spite The Blade? To be like- a better hero or something?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s a good idea,” ██████ snapped his fingers. “I can show him that murder isn’t always the solution (████ snorted at the “not always”) and that I can be a better hero than him.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Good luck man,” his roommate commented, watching ██████ come back to the couch and sit criss cross applesauce on it. “The guy’s a trained assassin and all you have is the power to turn into a dog.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Excuse you, my dog morph is not to be underestimated,” the shapeshifter retorted. “But…” he trailed off. “This is the first time I actually wanted to do something. Like- for real, I think I know what I wanna do with my life.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>████ gave him a soft look laced with concern. He made a soft noise, agreement? Confirmation? Either way, ██████ took this as a hint to continue.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I had no idea what to do for my entire life. I mean, I’m an alien shapeshifter with no memory of anything before my moms, I’m a goddamn high school dropout, and I’m still unemployed. I’ve got nothing to do with my life. But this?” He gave a laugh lacking any mirth. “I can actually see me being a hero. Isn’t that wild?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hasn’t it always been your dream? To like… help people? Do- do something good for the world?” ████ said gently. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>██████ snorted, knowing that to be true. “Yea, it has.” They sat in silence for a while, stewing it over. Then, something clicked in ██████’s mind. “Wait hold on.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hm? Whatcha thinkin about?” ████ looked up. ██████ was staring at the ceiling, green eyes darting from imperfection to imperfection in thought.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Dream… What if that was my name?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Your name is ██████.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I meant my hero name, you dumbass. What if my hero name was Dream?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Silence stretched on for a total of 4 seconds. Then… “Dude that’s an awful name.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck you, it’s a fantastic name,” Dream retorted, laughing.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You named yourself just after a word that I said! It’s a noun!” ████ teased.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m the future superhero, I get to choose my own name!” Dream seemed attached to his name now. “Plus, it has like… public interest. Just imagine, ‘Essempeia’s Top Hero - Dream!’” He spread his arms dramatically, a grin splitting his face.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That’d be like naming myself like… Fire or Ignition or something like that!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You goddamn arsonist,” the alien laughed. “Stop choosing fire names!” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Fine then,</span>
  <em>
    <span> ‘Dream,’</span>
  </em>
  <span> since you seem to be the name connoisseur here, pick one for me!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sapnap,” ████ sputtered at that one, especially with how fast Dream said it. Sapnap was his username on an old RPG they used to play, but ████ had a certain attachment to it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ok, I get to decide my hero name. Your naming privileges have been revoked.” His roommate made a fake sound of sadness, at which ████ laughed. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m keeping Dream, though,” he said. “Has a nice ring to it.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>████ rolled his eyes. “Yea, ok whatever. What’s your first order of business, Dreamie?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dream narrowed his eyes in thought, ignoring the nickname for now. “Costume. I need a cool costume.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, but I have a better idea. You also should get, like,” ████ made a little hand motion, “more morphs. The ones you have aren’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> good enough to be used for hero work.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck, you’re right. Got any ideas?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Duh. Let’s break into a fucking zoo!”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. animal kingdom</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Dream and Sapnap break into a zoo. Is- is there anything else you want me to add? It's crime time babey!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hello animorph fans you may recognize a few aspects lmao</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Yknow, when I wanted to go out and do something, this is NOT what I meant.” ████ and Dream stood at the entrance of the zoo, staring at the sign. ████ shrugged, leaving his roommate sighing and adjusting his hood. “Can’t believe it. I’m trying to be a superhero here and you’re just inviting me along to do crime.”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s a necessary thing to do!” ████ punched his shoulder lightly. “Your current morphs are limited to a squirrel, a husky, a horse I think, and like a bunch of bugs. Not exactly hero material, yea?”</p><p> </p><p>“I can kick ass as a squirrel. Have you ever faced off against a rabid squirrel?”</p><p> </p><p>“People are gonna have guns, dumbass. How- how are you gonna defend yourself from that, huh?”</p><p> </p><p>Dream rolled his eyes. “Fine, whatever. Let’s just get in here already.”</p><p> </p><p>It was way past closing time, the moon high overhead. The night was quiet, with only lingering noises of crickets and various other nocturnal creatures milling about. ████ brought a spare bandana he had cut holes into for his eyes, tying it around his face. Both of them had dark clothes and hoodies on, to blend into the night as they snuck in. Which was apparently ████’s brilliant idea, as going into a zoo to pet a tiger was probably not the best thing to do in broad daylight.</p><p> </p><p>As it was, they found a wall low enough that the two of them could climb over without much difficulty. They hopped over it and found themselves nearby the food court, where benches were still covered in leftover fries and funnel cake bits. A seagull or two sat on the beach umbrellas above the tables and munched on the fry leftovers.</p><p> </p><p>“You wanna be a gull?” ████ asked. Dream snorted in response.</p><p> </p><p>“Nah, gonna pass. I think there’s an aviary somewhere here.”</p><p> </p><p>“Ooo, fancy word pog?”</p><p> </p><p>“Shut up, I can know a fancy word or two.” The two giggled for a moment before realizing they were supposed to be stealthy. Just because this wasn’t a museum full of rare treasures and paintings, doesn’t mean it wasn’t guarded. In fact, they could almost make out a figure in the distance, phone light illuminating their face.</p><p> </p><p>“C’mon, there’s bound to be a map somewhere here,” ████ moved to the food stand, snatching one of the guiding maps they sold. “Perfect!”</p><p> </p><p>The two of them studied it for a while, pointing out exhibits they’d like to visit. Dream took out a pen he’d brought with him and circled an exhibit. A few minutes later, they had circles over several areas to garner DNA from. It was, after all, the only way for Dream to, quote unquote, “acquire” a morph.</p><p> </p><p>“Closest exhibit to us now is the wolf one,” Dream mused. “It’s one of the ones I wanted.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yea, cuz you like dogs.”</p><p> </p><p>“Problem?” Dream cocked his head. “I just think they’re neat.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yea, yea, we get it, you were into wolf rps during elementary school,” ████ teased. </p><p> </p><p>Dream sputtered indignantly in response. “Dude, you knew me in elementary school!” His roommate only laughed softly in response. </p><p> </p><p>“Fine, fine, we can go see some wolves; you can be the world’s first official werewolf. But you remember what to do, right?”</p><p> </p><p>Dream gave a long sigh. “Yea, just- gimme a second.” And with that, he stretched and glowed white. It took a few seconds for his form to completely melt down, his clothes folding around him as he shrank. As the light died down, all that was left was an armless white blob creature. Now that he had grown since he was a baby, he was no longer the size of a water bottle, and now reached the average person’s waist. Still the size of a child, but not pocket-sized anymore. The features didn’t change at all, black beady eyes peeking out of the white void.</p><p> </p><p>“Jeez I keep forgetting how small you are,” ████ smirked, causing Dream to give him a deadpan look. Unfortunately, as Dream had figured out as a kid, his true form was the only way he could acquire another morph. Thankfully his true form was rather light, so after ████ put away the clothes into a bag he’d brought, he scooped his alien roommate up and held him up by the… waist? it was hard to tell - like a kitten. Dream dangled unceremoniously. </p><p> </p><p>“Is this really the best way to take me there?” Dream grumbled, kicking his leg uselessly. His roommate laughed and plopped him on his shoulders. </p><p> </p><p>“Better?” At Dream’s noise of approval, they snuck over to the wolf exhibit. Thankfully no security was there to stop them, so the alien hopped off ████’s shoulders and jumped into the enclosure. It didn’t take too long to find one of the wolves, chilling on a rock. Through whatever weird tricks that allowed him to get close, Dream gently bonked his head against the wolf’s side. A few seconds later, he arose from wolf fluff and ran to the edge of the exhibit, where ████ pulled him up from the other side of the fence.</p><p> </p><p>This routine continued for other exhibits, the two of them checking out the tigers, the aviary (where Dream picked up what was labelled as a monk parakeet), the bears, and the penguins. As they were finishing up at the last exhibit, where Dream was acquiring a gorgeous cheetah, ████ spotted a flashlight beam shine from a few exhibits down.</p><p> </p><p>“██████!” he hissed. The white blob looked up. “Dude, hide! Guard’s coming!” ████ himself immediately ran for cover behind a bush. The flashlight beam shone over the exhibit as the guard got closer, and ████ started to sweat. </p><p> </p><p>“Well how’d a snow leopard get here?” The guard’s voice was heard. ████ peeked through the bushes and saw them peering over the edge, flashlight pointed down into the pit. “Gonna have to report that to HQ. Thought the enclosures were closed off, but whatever.” With one more preliminary scan, the guard wrote something down on their phone and left once more. ████ waited until the light was completely gone before letting a breath out and leaving the bush.</p><p> </p><p>Looking down into the pit himself, he saw a cheetah sleeping on a rock with an identical copy next to it, except in pure snowy white. Said white cheetah was looking pretty panicked, pawing at the ground nervously.</p><p> </p><p>“They’re gone, dude.” At ████’s voice, the cheetah, Dream, looked up and sighed in relief. Using his newfound cat skills, he jumped up and clambered up, his roommate pulling him along. </p><p> </p><p>“Never invite me to do this again,” Dream panted. “I thought we were about to be fucking caught.”</p><p> </p><p>“We weren’t, so…” ████ gave him a cheeky grin as Dream shifted back to his true form. He gave him an unimpressed look, then they both dissolved into quiet giggles. </p><p> </p><p>“You got me there,” he admitted. ████ picked him back up and they headed back to where they left his clothes. Dream shifted back to his human form, dressed entirely in spandex. He had figured out at a young age that while clothes may not morph along with him, spandex had no problem being integrated, so he always wore it under his normal clothes, just in case. </p><p> </p><p>They escaped without being noticed, laughing about how they managed it. As they left, a flashlight beam shone over the cheetah exhibit. The guard frowned as they looked into the pit, no longer containing a “snow leopard.” As they looked up to where the two of them just left, with a map haphazardly left on the ground, they smiled. “Well this ought to be interesting,” they commented, eyes aglow a pure white behind their shades.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>:)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. maskmaking</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It's time for Dream to figure out his costume. Unfortunately it's harder than it looks.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It was the morning after Dream and ████’s zoo trip, and they were currently designing a costume for the hero-to-be. Unfortunately, neither were very good artists.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re so bad at this,” Dream muttered as he stared at another concept from his best friend. It was a full spandex suit with panties on the outside, all colored neon green with a spare highlighter ████ snagged from work.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s a classic look!” he defended his work.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dream scoffed. “On what fucking planet?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“...some planet, somewhere out there, you don’t know, fuck off.“</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The alien snorted at ████’s mumbling and moved the drawing away. “I mean, I’m still gonna have spandex or something tight, since I kinda need it for morphing, yea? But I want a cool element. That,” he pointed at the drawing, “is not cool.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re so rude. My feelings? Crushed,” ████ teased. “Lemme see your stuff.” Leaning over, he snatched the drawing Dream was currently working on away. It wasn’t much, to be honest, just a badly drawn figure with an edgy hoodie and a smiley face for the head. “Yea this is shit.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ouch. I am injured.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“How are you gonna protect yourself, man?” ████ poked the drawing. “This is just your face.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“It’s gonna be a mask, I think,” he muttered back. “It’s a work in progress.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You wanna just go shopping or something?” his roommate suggested. “We can split up and buy specific materials or something and text each other when we find something you like.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dream took a moment to ponder this. “That’s not an… </span>
  <em>
    <span>awful</span>
  </em>
  <span> idea. You know any good places to shop for superhero merch?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sure some store has a cheap plastic chunk you can slap on your face or something. If not, we’ll just make one.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Out of what, paper?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sure!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Their banter died out after a while, the two debating shopping strategies. They eventually settled on going to Walmart for the base outfit, then going and hunting around for anything else. They left for the store, buying a bright green and white hoodie, some spare tight clothes from the sports sections, and a pair of combat boots. Overall a nice haul.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They came to a standstill when trying to find a suitable mask. Dream was adamant about his costume having a mask but it was impossible to find one that fit his tastes. Eventually ████ left him alone to search on his own, the two of them constantly checking their phone for updates. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dream sighed and looked up from his phone. ████ had again messaged him a mask he didn’t like, and he sent back a quick “keep looking” as he turned the corner. In front of him was a small thrift store, with the label of Sparkling Antiques written in purple and green cursive on top. The future hero sighed and realized that he might as well give it a shot.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As he entered, the bell clinked softly. The store itself was rather compact, with shelves displaying old clothes, random items, and weathered books. A few of the books and items shone an iridescent purple, indicative of them being enchanted. Probably some low-level enchant like unbreaking, he thought to himself.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh- hi! Welcome!” A voice floated from the back of the shop, where the cash register glinted in the overhead lamp. A guy was manning it, pushing red and black shades up on his face as he gave a warm smile to Dream. “Didn’t really expect any customers.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Small business, I’m guessing?” Dream smiled back, taking a walk through the store to search for anything that caught his eye.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yea, just random stuff I didn’t know what to do with. Doesn’t exactly advertise well,” he stated, brushing some dust off his desk. “Name’s ███ Spark, I’m the owner of this place.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Nice to meet you, I’m ██████,” Dream introduced himself, eyes scanning the shelves. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>███ must’ve noticed his wandering as he walked around his desk to meet up with him. “You looking for anything specific?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yea, actually. You have a mask anywhere here?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“A mask?” ███ frowned in thought. “I just might, actually. Lemme check.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dream blinked. “Wait seriously? Didn’t expect you to say yes.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Small store, I know the inventory,” the store owner said as he dug through a box. The alien watched him curiously. “Aha! Perfect!” Eventually ███ pulled out a smooth white mask, looking like it was made of something like porcelain or plastic. It was completely featureless, with literally nothing to indicate that it was a human face aside from two eye holes on the top half. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Whoa, lemme see that,” Dream reached to grab it and looked it over. It had a nice, even weight, and when he placed it against his face as a test, he jumped at how cold it was at first, but mostly at how </span>
  <em>
    <span>perfect</span>
  </em>
  <span> it felt. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You like it?” ███ moved back behind the cash register, observing the alien marvel at the mask. Dream took the mask off and smiled at it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s perfect!” he said. “I’ve been looking all over for a mask and this is literally perfection.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m glad you like it,” the store owner laughed. “Do you uhh… do you wanna enchant it or just keep it as is?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“This place enchants items?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“As a side gig, yea. My wife liked doing it and she taught me before she passed.” A sad look passed through his eyes for a moment before he pushed his shades back up and regained his smile. “I can offer it for your mask, since it doesn’t have much going for it at the moment.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean…” Dream drummed his fingers on the desk as he slid the mask over to ███. “Can you do a simple unbreaking enchant? Just to make sure it’s not going to shatter under stress.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sure, I’ve got plenty of unbreaking books,” ███ replied, punching numbers into the register. “Anything else?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dream thought for a moment. Did he need anything else from the mask? It was just for identity protection so… “Gimme one second.” He pulled out his phone and rapidly texted ████ for help. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>‘you don’t wanna lose it, yea?’</span>
  </em>
  <span> came the text back. </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘i’d suggest loyalty. it’s at least more reliable than one of those damn curses.’</span>
  </em>
  
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dream relayed this to ███, who counted the total up to be about $185 ($20 for the mask, $65 for unbreaking II, and a whopping $100 for the loyalty). As the enchanter went into the back of the store to work the enchantments, Dream called his roommate about the price, who came to the store 20 minutes later agreeing to pool his money for this. When asked, ████ shrugged and said that he was willing to help Dream out with this, since he loved him so much, to which the future hero gave him a friendly shove and laugh.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually ███ returned from the back room, the porcelain mask shimmering a faint purple, and the two of them paid for it. Thanking him for business, they headed back home to try the outfit on. ████ sat on the couch waiting as Dream headed to his room to change.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A few minutes later, Dream came out. He pulled the hood off his head and gave a toothy grin from behind the mask, which only showed his mouth. On the mask itself was a curve resembling a smile, creating a cute smiley face visage. The green of the hoodie was almost acidic, but as ████ looked it over, he found himself smiling.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“How do I look?” Dream asked, giving a showy little turn.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>████ laughed at his theatrics, but gave him a genuine, warm smirk. “It’s perfect.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>1) hello mianite fans i see you :)<br/>2) did yall like the lil bit of art for it? i might do that for a few chapters that need a visual aid bc like,,, i'm an artist before i am a writer and i just like merging fic and art lmao</p>
<p>also! if yall have any questions about my au feel free to message/ask me on tumblr @kriber or @vilbursoot!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. do pigs dream...</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Blade is a vigilante. His methods are ruthless yet just. He also really doesn't like this new hero making the rounds.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>little bit of a shorter chapter, but it's gonna be a two-parter :0 enjoy the fun times lmao</p><p>tw for a little bit of blood</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Blade was a distinguished hero. Well, hero was a loose way of putting it. He was a vigilante, going to lengths most would call cruel and immoral, but to him, it was the necessary thing to do. He wasn’t very burdened by the blood on his hands.</p><p> </p><p>But he’s seen heroes try out, various demons or people that strive to be like him, and they’ve all failed. No one knows how to actually be a hero, they’re not prepared for it. It’s not a walk in the park to maintain justice in Essempeia. The Blade is the only one able to handle it since he’s been doing this for years. He’s the reigning king of the city.</p><p> </p><p>So he sees this newbie hero show up one day, clad in green and with a shining white mask, running around the city turning into various animals, he decides to give him a little chat. He’s done this talk with every hero so far, and many get too intimidated. And it’s not like they can oust him on social media; he can be extremely threatening when need be.</p><p> </p><p>Dream, the new hero, was a slippery fellow. He never stayed in one place for long and tended to turn into a bird to fly away, leaving the very much so mortal Blade grounded. It irritated him. You didn’t need flashy powers and pretty green feathers to succeed in heroism, you need skill. Skill that Dream decisively didn’t have.</p><p> </p><p>The Blade managed to corner him one day after a criminal left him limping. A demon, from the looks of things, with curved horns and a haughty attitude. It was easy enough to knock them out and snatch the fallen hero as they fled. Now on the roof of a nearby building, he dropped Dream to the ground, who made a noise of pain.</p><p> </p><p>“Yo what the hell, man? I had it handled!” he yelled at The Blade, who kept his face level. </p><p> </p><p>“I don’t think you did,” he replied, his voice his usual husky growl he put on for heroism. It usually intimidated whoever he was talking to, and while Dream was wearing a mask, he saw him bite his lower lip.</p><p> </p><p>“I didn’t need your <em> help </em> , or whatever you were doing to upstage me, <em> Blade. </em>” Venom dripped off Dream’s voice. He brushed himself off and stood up (and The Blade couldn’t help but notice that this kid was actually pretty tall, about his height). “I could handle a common criminal on my own.”</p><p> </p><p>“Whatever that ‘common criminal’ did to you, they injured you to the point of limping. That is NOT having it handled.”</p><p> </p><p>“I could’ve handled it better than you, Mr. Blood God.”</p><p> </p><p>“My methods make sense.”</p><p> </p><p>Dream gave a disbelieving sigh and crossed his arms. “You kill people.”</p><p> </p><p>“I kill <em> criminals, </em>” The Blade corrected. “I free the city from injustices and illegal activity.”</p><p><br/><br/>“Oh, like killing isn’t an ‘illegal activity?’”</p><p> </p><p>“Would you rather keep them alive?” he narrowed his eyes at the other’s quips. “So that they can break out of jail and come back for revenge? They always will if we don’t deal with them properly. Permanently.”</p><p> </p><p>He couldn’t see it, but he could almost feel Dream’s eyes narrow, glaring daggers at him. “So what, I should forget about morality altogether? Become like you if i want to succeed?”</p><p> </p><p>The Blade shrugged, glaring back. “It’s the only way to survive. Criminals wouldn’t spare you if you spare them, they’re selfish.”</p><p> </p><p>“Every criminal I’ve faced so far,” Dream frowned, “has been sent safely to prison after I bested them.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, I’ve watched your fights. You’re extremely underskilled. You win using the element of surprise and your shapeshifting abilities. If you didn’t have those, you’d. Be. Dead.”</p><p> </p><p>Dream pushed his face into The Blade’s, really threatening the definition of personal space. The vigilante stayed stoic. “I. Can. Handle. Myself.”</p><p> </p><p>Within a second, The Blade pulled out a sword and held it against Dream’s neck, sweeping his legs so he’d fall over. He angled the sword down, poking its tip against his throat. Dream breathed heavily, laying motionless on the ground. </p><p> </p><p>“I don’t think you can,” The Blade reiterated. “If you can’t even handle a surprise attack without intent to kill, imagine what would happen if someone with a little more bloodlust did the same.”</p><p> </p><p>Dream gulped, his adam’s apple sliding against the cyan sheen of the sword and drawing blood. His hands balled into fists as he tried to get up, but The Blade just pushed him back down with a boot on his chest.</p><p> </p><p>The Blade leaned down, pressing his own pig-like mask against Dream’s porcelain one. “You’re not ready for this.”</p><p> </p><p>And with that, Dream glowed a bright white and with The Blade slightly blinded from the glint coming off his sword, he snatched his fallen hoodie in his now birdlike talons and flew off. As the vigilante looked down at where he just was, he saw a small spot of red on the cement. He clicked his tongue and sheathed his sword. </p><p> </p><p>“Hopefully he learns something from this,” he grumbled. He watched the green bird flap off into the distance as he jumped off the building onto the next, to continue to watch over the city.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. ...of bloodstained green?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Dream thinks about what The Blade had told him. He thinks about it so hard he watches youtube.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>so hi. i am not dead. i didn't abandon this, i just lost hyperfix lmao</p>
<p>and since i wrote the outline before the finale or whatever's going on in season 2 (please someone give tommy a hug oh my god (dream you don't count)), a lot of things need to be added or changed. not TOO much, but i might cap off this story at the finale. maybe there's gonna be another part to sdatwb, but overall we'll just see how it goes </p>
<p>also i know i have hero dream here, but only bc dream is a HUGE comfort cc for me and i love seeing him as a hero ;w; i can write villain dream for fun yes but here he's not a manipulative jerk lmao</p>
<p>ANYWAYS the actual chapter. this one's extra long as a treat :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Dream, safe to say, was not having a very good time right now. He just humiliated himself in front of The Blade, and as much as he hated to admit it, he was right. Dream </span>
  <em>
    <span>was </span>
  </em>
  <span>untrained and weak, and as he flew back to the warehouse, his thoughts wandered and replayed the earlier scene over and over again.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He eventually landed in front of the warehouse. It was a simple storage shed, long since abandoned and unused. When they had first checked it out, it was full of dust and had a nest of spiders that took AGES to clear out (thankfully Dream got a free morph out of it). Now, it was still a mess, but it had a computer and a general area for walking around and training.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dream morphed back to human, then tugged on his hoodie as he walked (limped) in. ████ was sitting at the pc, scrolling twitter. “Great job, hero helper,” the alien muttered, causing his roommate to turn around in surprise.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yo dude you’re back early,” he commented, at which Dream groaned and fell into a dusty old couch in the back of the warehouse.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I got a fucking interverntion from The Blade.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“...You’re kidding.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Nope.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What did he want from you?” ████ typed something into the search bar.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“He just scolded me on being a ‘bad hero’ or whatever, like he’s one to talk.” Dream crossed his arms and pouted, his mask hiding his angry eyes. “Just kept talking about how you have to throw your morality away to be a good hero, to not be afraid to kill, or some shit like that.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“And…?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“AND! I’m saying that it’s impossible to be a good hero and kill people while doing it!” He slumped further into the couch. “Like the only time you should actually kill is when there is literally no other choice. And The Blade treats murder the same way he treats baking bread. It’s fucking ridiculous.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You’ve ranted about him like once a month,” ████ began, “but this is the first time he’s actually ranted about you.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dream blinked behind his mask. “What do you mean? How do you know that?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Apparently,” ████ showed his roommate the computer, an old boxy one from a decade ago, motioning over so that Dream would follow, “The Blade’s been doing this for a while. Confronting newbie heroes, forcing them to either quit by force or convincing them that the job is ‘too dangerous,’ whatever that means.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Seems similar to what he just did…” Dream mused. “Said I wasn’t fit enough to be a hero. Knocked me off my feet. Literally.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“And used his sword, from the looks of things,” ████ pulled a tissue from a box nearby and dabbed at Dream’s neck, which was still slightly bleeding. “What did he say exactly?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Said I’m untrained, weak, and useless in the field,” Dream listed as he pulled his mask off. As great as it was for privacy, it didn’t grant him the best vision. “Really dug deep with his insults. But…” he sighed. “He wasn’t wrong. I have no idea what I’m doing. I just turn into a wolf and hope for the best half the time; I’ve got no combat training!” He ran a hand through his hair irritatedly. “FUCK man, I don’t know what to do!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Good thing I’m here for you~” ████ chirped, already clacking away at the ancient PC. He pulled up Youtube and showed off a huge listing of martial arts tutorials. “Obviously we can’t go to an actual studio to learn, so Youtube is our best bet right now.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Martial arts? Are you saying I need to learn to fight?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“██████ are you aware that you do not know how to fight?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dream sputtered. “I’m aware! And don’t say my actual name in these parts, this is the Super Secret Hideout! It’s official and everything!” Indeed, they had hung up a sign outside that said [HERO HIDEOUT - DON’T INVADE], mostly as a joke. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Exaaaactly, which is why you,” ████ tapped Dream’s nose playfully, “need to train! If this place DOES get invaded, or you want to stay a hero and not get constantly threatened by Mr Murder Pig, you should learn!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dream hummed in thought, eyes flickering over to the screen. Eventually, he gave in and sighed. “Alright, let’s learn. Gotta best The Blade somehow.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And so began a training montage. Dream was constantly training and watching the training videos, while ████ watched them alongside him and gave him any pointers if he didn’t match up, like some sort of shitty coach (that also made fun of Dream whenever he fell). On the side, Dream ran out to do hero duties and protect Essempeia, utilizing bits and pieces of the training he was currently doing.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually, Dream had gotten better with his martial arts skills. He had mostly looked up jiu jitsu and a bit of karate, but also had taken up lessons with certain blades, specifically an axe, as he felt it was, in his opinion, the best weapon. Both were going along pretty well, and criminals fell left and right (but he left them alive, obviously). Training in his morphs was important as well, so he looked up how certain animals fought and utilized their skills, especially his favorite wolf and bird morphs.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was all going great. He had been training for about a month, honing his skills and getting his name out there. Every so often, he saw The Blade watching him from a skyscraper roof, watching him. It was almost as if he was assessing him, or even </span>
  <em>
    <span>judging</span>
  </em>
  <span> him. Frankly, it was a bit unnerving, seeing soulless white eyes gaze down at him from behind his pig mask.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>At some point, The Blade finally decided to confront Dream. He had just finished off some bank robber, kicking him to the curb, when once again he heard the clip clop of heels in a nearby alley. Turning to attention, he saw The Blade standing menacingly in the shadows. The vigilante motioned for the alien to follow him, and scaled the building with ease.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dream shifted into his parrot and flew up, meeting The Blade on the roof. As his back was turned, he regained human form and waited for the vigilante to make the first move.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So. You didn’t listen to me.” The Blade finally spoke up. He turned his head slightly, tusks glistening in the moonlight. “You’re still around, gallivanting about like you own the place.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“This place is my city too, Blood God,” Dream scowled, crossing his arms. “I’ll protect it as I see fit.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I told you,” The Blade turned to face the hero, “that you aren’t fit to be a hero.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s easy for you to say,” he huffed easily, studying his nails. “You’ve been a ‘hero’ for a few years now, you’re bound to have more experience than me. But…” Dream cocked his head up a little bit. “Don’t think for a second that I can’t handle myself. Haven’t you been watching me fight anyways?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You certainly took </span>
  <em>
    <span>some</span>
  </em>
  <span> of my advice. You’re still not finishing them off.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“And I don’t need to.” Dream inched forward. “I can subdue them enough, knock them out, scare them enough that they don’t want to fuck with me again. It works better than senseless killing.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s not senseless.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Doesn’t have sense either.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Dream.” The Blade’s tone turned dangerous. “You are NOT prepared.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Then test me!” Dream smirked. “If you think I still don’t have what it takes, fight me. If I lose, I’ll stop. If I win, you let me keep being a hero. Essempeia needs a righteous hero, not a bloodthirsty vigilante.” He held a hand out, the other already prepping claws behind his back. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The vigilante studied the outstretched hand for a minute. Eventually, he huffed. “I like those odds. I’ll win anyways.” He reached across and shook the alien’s hand, and immediately tried to flip him over his shoulder by grabbing his whole arm.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dream, however, was prepared for that, and retaliated by shifting into his parrot once again (after free-falling and shrinking for a few seconds) and flying up to rake his talons across The Blade’s face. He shielded his face from the onslaught and tried to reach for the bird, who evaded and landed a rooftop to the left.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I never said I’d stay in one place!” He yelled as he hid behind a generator and shifted to human, the constant morphing exhausting him. The time it took him to do so was longer, since he was tired, which gave The Blade ample time to jump over. Dream grinned as he finished morphing and the chase began.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The two of them jumped rooftops, one swinging a shiny sword and the other running away and trying to trip the vigilante up. Eventually they reached a roof they couldn’t easily jump off from without serious injury (and Dream was too tired to morph again, much less keep his human form together). They stared each other down, gave a few seconds of downtime, and lept right back into action. Both were great with blades and martial arts, Dream utilizing his new skills to try and best The Blade, who was easily keeping up with the hero’s somewhat sluggish movements.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The fight went on for a solid three minutes, and Dream was about ready to pass out. The Blade was barely breaking a sweat, though he didn’t look unphased at all. In fact, it almost looked like a grin on his face. But Dream’s determination was for naught, as eventually he stumbled in his attack and gave The Blade the ample opportunity to point his sword at his neck.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Checkmate,” The Blade said stoically. Dream gave a breathy swear as he collapsed onto his back, glowing white at random intervals and struggling to stay human. The Blade frowned and crouched by the fallen hero.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Y’know,” the vigilante began, “you aren’t actually that bad. No one really gave me that kind of a fight before.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I... like... fighting,” Dream managed to pant out. He placed an arm over his eyes, not wanting to look at the victor of the fight. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I can tell.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So… I lost…” Dream breathed, getting his form back together. “That means… I can’t- can’t be a hero... anymore… yea?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A long silence passed between the two. The only noises were the latent sounds of the city and the sound of the generator whirring behind them. Dream pushed himself off the ground and brushed his clothes off, fixing his mask up. He sighed and started to morph when he got interrupted.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s fine,” The Blade spoke up.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dream turned around, confused. “What?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Keep up the heroics, I don’t care,” he pushed himself off as well, straightening his cape. “You know how to defend yourself and survive well enough to be acceptable. How’d you even learn so much in a month?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m a fast learner,” Dream shrugged it off. “But- really? You’ll let me stay a hero? I lost, though.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You lost to the top vigilante of this modern era,” The Blade sighed. “It was pretty much impossible to win at your current skill level. But you put up a pretty good fight, and you do actually deal with criminals in your own way.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“But I don’t kill them. I thought you wanted me to lose my morality.” Dream frowned, but accepted the “compliment” regardless. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span></span>
    <br/>
    <br/>
  
  <span>“I said that setting morality aside is useful for me, and would help in the long run. But I never said you </span>
  <em>
    <span>needed</span>
  </em>
  <span> to lose it. You clearly found a way to circumvent it, so I guess I’m proud of you for that. I’d say you’d be a hero yet.” With that, The Blade waved him goodbye and went over to the edge. With a foot on the ledge, he turned around and offered a final goodbye. “I had fun. Let’s fight again soon, yea?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And with that, he jumped off. Dream rushed to the side to see The Blade sliding down the wall on a grappling hook rope, before jumping off and hopping rooftops into the night. The wind blew gently, blowing off the alien’s hood and leaving his dirty blonde locks to wave in front of his mask.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yea, Blade,” Dream smirked tiredly, but contently, “let’s fight again. But next time? I’ll win.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>my god i hate writing action and fight scenes. please never make me do this again (realizes that i am writing a superhero au) (cries)</p>
<p>ANYWAYS if you wanna reach me i have a tumblr @vilbursoot so yea lmao</p>
<p>also PLEASE dont ship techno and dream! just a disclaimer!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. glitching out</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Where am I? What's going on- wait... who am I? Who... who am I???</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>wahooooooooo new character is getting introduced and it's everyone favorite glitch</p><p>also! three-parter ahead with george's character! so this is part 1/3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>…</p><p> </p><p>…?</p><p> </p><p>What? What’s…? What’s going on?</p><p> </p><p>He stumbled, catching himself on the wall. Yet his hand almost… went through? Got stuck? It was hard to tell… his head felt like it was filled with cotton cotton cotton cotton cotton-</p><p> </p><p>What? What was that? He pulled his hand from the wall, which let him have it. He laughed, soft yet broken. Literally- it sounded like it was some distorted audio being chopped up and pieced back together. The sound made him slap a hand over his mouth, not wanting to hear it again.</p><p> </p><p>He blinked, the world swirling with blues and yellows and grays. Looking down at himself, he saw he had a dress shirt, blue tie, and slacks. Yet… something was wrong. It almost looked like he was breaking up, bits and pieces of him falling apart and reforming. Was he… glitching? Was that the term?</p><p> </p><p>It was hard to know anything right now. Where was he? What was going on with him? Who was he? At that last question, he froze. Who <em> was </em> he? He fumbled his brain for a name. Nothing came to mind immediately, so he gave up. </p><p> </p><p>Instead, he tried to take a step forward, yet at walking even a few steps, he found himself right back where he was. Frowning, he tried again. Again, it reset him to the starting position. He gave a low growl, the sound breaking apart again. </p><p> </p><p>It took him about 5 minutes (though his sense of time was pretty warped) until he figured out he could move another way. It seemed to work, somehow, and he stumbled out of the… alleyway? It was tough to tell, especially with a cloudy mind that gave him absolute jack shit.</p><p> </p><p>Apparently, whatever energy it took for him to walk out of the reset zone, it was drained, and he collapsed. Bits of him still faded in and out, jumping in front of his vision. As his eyes closed, he heard a steady beeping noise that he somehow thought was his own brain, and the pitterpat of footsteps as something ran over to him. Blinking one last time, he saw a bright yellow blur run in front of him and passed out.</p><p> </p><p>-----</p><p> </p><p>Dream wasn’t having a very good time. He had just finished up with busting some syndicate for their evil plans, which was apparently… evil virtual reality? The leader of the project had vanished, promising that he’d be back for “vengeance,” whatever that meant. Though he had cursed out and damned a certain employee for “messing up the main part of the code,” whatever that meant.</p><p> </p><p>None of the other employees had mentioned working on the main code of the system, or at least as much as some other employee had, but no one seemed to pinpoint who it was. Dream had frowned at the time and investigated the building, to find no one in there after it had been cleaned out. The program had been in the biggest room in the office, but it was busted now. It was probably impossible to retain the code, but the computer had refused to be logged onto, stating that the system already had a user.</p><p> </p><p>It was weird enough until he heard a weird noise from the alleyway as he tried to leave. Biting his lip, Dream went over to investigate when he found someone there, collapsing at the front of the alley. He ran over to check if they were still alive to find something… very odd. This person was… glitching out? It almost seemed like a corrupted file, complete with the distant sound of static and dial-up. But this was a person. A real life person right in front of him. And he looked hurt.</p><p> </p><p>Dream made the decision there to turn into a horse and, after heaving the body onto his back (and resisting the odd tingly feeling he felt as he touched the glitchy individual), he hauled ass back to the hero base. ████ greeted him, ready to congratulate him on his partial victory, before seeing the extra baggage and setting him down to rest on the couch.</p><p> </p><p>Presently, Dream and ████ were talking, quietly enough so they wouldn’t disturb their sleeping guest. “You don’t even know who he is!” ████ hissed, pointing at the glitch. “You say you just found him?”</p><p> </p><p>“At the site of a ruined corporation, yes,” Dream countered. “A corporation that dealt with <em> cyberspace and virtual reality. </em> He could be connected to them!”</p><p> </p><p>“What, are you gonna use him to get to Mr McVillainface? We don’t even know if he’s safe!”</p><p> </p><p>“████ I swear, he’s hurt! Look at him!” They both did, and the mystery person did indeed look worse for wear. He almost looked dead, if he wasn’t visibly breathing or glitching. His face was contorted into a visage of discomfort, though it kept trying to switch back to a neutral expression. </p><p> </p><p>████ sighed. “Yea, I can see. But how do we know he’s not dangerous?”</p><p> </p><p>“...Intuition.”</p><p> </p><p>“Of fuckin course,” ████ laughed. “You’re so stupid █- Dream.”</p><p> </p><p>“It’s why you love me~” Dream stuck his tongue out playfully, his roommate laughing in response. As they laughed, they heard a broken groan behind them. Dream immediately went on alert as they turned to see the figure stirring. The glitching didn’t stop at all as he rose up, rubbing his head and groaning.</p><p> </p><p>“Wh- what? Where am I now?” the glitch muttered, oblivious to the others in the room. Eventually his gaze focused and he looked around wildly, the glitching only worsening. He whipped his head from point to point in the warehouse before settling on Dream and ████. “Who a-a-a-a-re you?” His voice matched his state of being pretty well as well, stuttering and repeating itself. </p><p> </p><p>“Uh, hi,” the hero awkwardly began, “I’m Dream.”</p><p> </p><p>“The hero?” Recognition flashed in the stranger’s eyes. “Th-th-the one o-on TV?”</p><p> </p><p>“And Twitter, yea,” Dream smiled, glad to know he was gaining popularity. “And this is my friend and assistant-”</p><p> </p><p>“Sapnap!” ████ cut in before Dream could say his name, leaning his head on his much taller roommate’s shoulder. At his questioning look (as much as he could emote behind the mask), he rolled his eyes. “I’m not gonna tell him my name! That- that’s just dumb hero business!”</p><p> </p><p>“S-so you’re the- the real Dream?” the stranger gaped in awe. “That’s so cool! It’s n-n-n-nice to meet you both!” He took a moment to look around. “So am- am I in your secret b-base?”</p><p> </p><p>“Only because Dream found you and decided this would be the perfect place to leave you,” ████ explained. “So who are you? And what’s going on with the whole,” he waved towards the stranger, “glitchy situation?”</p><p> </p><p>He frowned in response. “Oh I-I-I have n-no idea. I just woke up l-like this. And… uhhh…” The uhh dragged on for way longer than needed as he almost seemed to freeze in thought. The roommates exchanged a look of concern as the sound of static filled the room. Eventually he snapped out of it and cocked his head. “Greg? N-no, Gary? Geoffrey? ...Gerard?”</p><p> </p><p>“So it’s with a G,” ████ muttered under his breath as the stranger finally snapped his fingers.</p><p> </p><p>“GEORGE!” The now-named George exclaimed, the static vanishing. “I’m George ████████, I live in ██ ████ ██████, and I work at the Unification Project as a programmer! I REMEMBER!” He laughed to himself as the information poured out.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, uh, it’s nice to meet you, George,” Dream smiled, a little disturbed by the tangent. </p><p> </p><p>“N-no, you guys don’t understand!” George kept laughing, and it sounded broken and staticky. “I-I’ve been h-h-having troubles remembering th-things ever since I w-w-woke up in that al-alley. I finally remember everything!” He ran a hand through his hair.</p><p> </p><p>“So…” ████ began. “Do you- do you remember how you got <em> in </em> the alley in the first place? Or what you were doing by a villain’s headquarters?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh yea, lemme j-j-just pinpoint EXACTLY wh-what alleyway it was while my b-b-b-b-brain was full of s-static,” George rolled his eyes. “I just woke up there!”</p><p> </p><p>A few beats of silence passed as ████ and George had a staring contest. Dream, meanwhile, was thinking, remembering every detail from earlier today. “You said you worked at the Unification Project, yea?”</p><p> </p><p>George blinked. “Yea, I do. Or- did, I-I guess. I got f-fired…” The glitching got worse as he looked down morosely. “Fucked up th-th-the code. I…” He trailed off and froze again, the sound of static picking up even stronger than before.</p><p> </p><p>████ hissed in through his teeth. “Told you he was fucked up.” They both took a glance at the couch the glitch was sitting on and noted how it too was glitching.</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t be rude,” Dream muttered back. “He has no idea what’s going on either, I think. You ok?” he added, louder so that George could hear.</p><p> </p><p>George unfroze suddenly, biting his lip. “I-I-I-I-” Came a glitchy mess of sounds. He slapped a hand over his mouth as he took a few shaky breaths. Dream frowned and inched closer, putting a careful hand on his knee, ignoring the sudden sensation of pins and needles his hand was now experiencing. Turning to ████, he saw that he was also coming over, settling his hand on George’s other knee. </p><p> </p><p>It took a few minutes for George to fully calm down, the deafening static fading. The pins and needles went away as well, both the couch and the roomies’ hands fading to normal. The glitch was looking anywhere but at the others, lower lip sucked in. “Sorry…” he muttered. </p><p> </p><p>“You’re good, man,” ████ reassured, giving his knee a pat.</p><p> </p><p>George sighed brokenly. “Can- can I go home? I need- I need some tea.”</p><p> </p><p>“We can take █- Sapnap's car,” Dream suggested, ignoring the pointed look “Sapnap” gave him. After all, Dream didn’t have a car of his own; they got to and fro either together or with Dream flying over on his own.</p><p> </p><p>“Fine, I’ll go start it,” ████ rolled his eyes. “We can tell you about your organization while we drive.”</p><p> </p><p>“Wh-what about my organization?” George frowned, pushing himself off the couch (and stumbling, leaving Dream to try and support him).</p><p> </p><p>Dream inhaled sharply, trying to find the words. “We’ll uh- we’ll explain on the way.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>sooooo you may be wondering why george's name is uncensored and why dream and sapnap's are. there's two reasons for that. one, i'm just a tad uncomfortable with using dream and sap's real names, while george's is literally the first thing you see at all times. two, you'll find out the in-lore reason next chapter (which is. ouch for george stans you're getting some ANGST)</p><p>also sorry if you have trouble reading george's stutter, i just feel like if you're as heavily glitched out as he is, you're not gonna have a fun time talking coherently ;w;</p><p>as usual my tumblr is @vilbursoot if you wanna hit me up!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. home sweet home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>George goes home. Though is he home? Is home anything at all?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hello smp fandom. how we fuckin feelinggggggg after that (jan 6 stream)</p>
<p>anyways have some george having an existential crisis</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>George was sitting in the back seat of a superhero’s car. HOLY SHIT this was the coolest day of his life!!!! Dream turned out to be a pretty cool guy, and while Sapnap was snappy (haha Snapnap), he didn’t hold it against him much. After all, Sapnap had even less of an idea of what was going on with him than George.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So as the bandana-clad man turned the car on and drove off, Dream turned around and faced George from the front seat. “So… do you know what your company was doing?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Uhh…” George frowned, thinking back. He had noticed something slightly off while coding, realizing that what he was never explicitly told what the point of the simulation had been. “Not e-exactly?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Fantastic, you wanna fill him in, Dreambo?” Sapnap said from the driver’s seat. Dream fidgeted next to him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“See, we think that your company was led by a villain.” At George’s confused and disbelieving look, the hero elaborated. “The whole place was in ruins, and we saw who we think might’ve been your boss running away yelling about ‘taking vengeance’ on us all.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Did he happen t-to have a black suit and red tie w-w-with bright green eyes?” George remembered the face of his boss, yelling at him angrily as he lay a mess on the floor. Why was he on the floor in this memory?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, yea! He did!” Dream snapped his fingers. “Guess it was your boss after all, huh?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t think I like that,” George frowned. “Though I-I guess it makes sense. He w-was always pretty r-r-rude. All the time.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Never trust corporations, I always say!” Sapnap sang from the front, earning a light slap from Dream. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“He was creating a sort of simulation, a virtual reality I think?” Dream continued. “I didn’t get too much info, and it’s not like the other employees could tell me what he had planned. Not like your boss was any help either,” he muttered that last part, though George still heard it.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Y-yea, he was making a VR game. Or- was it a headset? I c-c-can’t really remember. He always said it was s-supposed to be ‘more immersive th-than any other program h-had ever been.’” George leaned back, running the code through his head. “He sought me out because he said I w-was good at coding. But- but I fucked it all up, didn’t I?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You thwarted his evil scheme, that’s pretty good. Anyways, we’re here.” Sapnap stopped the car, and they all looked out the window. Sure enough, George recognized his house, but something was… wrong. There were people milling about on the front lawn and- was that a fucking “For Sale” sign out front?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What the-” George opened the car and jumped out, ignoring Sapnap and Dream’s hisses of warning and running straight to the sign. Sure enough, it was an actual, real sign that advertised the house for sale. “Th-the fuck??”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hello sir, are you interested in this house?” A voice piped up from his left. He turned to see a businessman, a realtor most likely, approach him. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“N-no, I live here. I own this house,” George stated, narrowing his eyes. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Uhh, no you don’t,” the realtor frowned. “This house has been set for sale; no one owns it right now.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“No- I-I-I was here j-just last night! Th-this is my goddamn h-house!” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Nobody’s lived in this house for months, sir, please calm yourself,” the realtor raised his hands to placate him, but George was not calm. His form threatened to break apart completely and the realtor looked at him in concern.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I LIVE HERE THOUGH!!!” George yelled lividly. “I can p-p-prove it!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Perfect, can I see your identification then?” At that, George halted his yelling and rifled through his pockets.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Is everything ok?” A new (yet familiar) voice asked. The realtor turned to see Sapnap standing there, leash in hand and a white husky at the end. George took one look at the dog and as it fucking </span>
  <em>
    <span>winked at him,</span>
  </em>
  <span> he figured out who that was.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry about the ruckus, sir,” the realtor sighed. “I just have a rowdy customer.” He noticed the dog (Dream, George’s mind supplied unhelpfully) and smiled. “Well hello there, aren’t you a cutie?” Dream barked happily, tongue lolling out of his mouth.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Finally, George felt his ID in his pocket and pulled it out with an “aha!” He handed it to the realtor. “See? Th-this should state that I l-live here!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The realtor took it, yet looked unimpressed. “Sir this is blank.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>...what? “I- I’m sorry?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s blank.” The realtor flipped the ID to where the front should be, only to see every field blank. Not a single part was filled out - not the birthday, the photo, not even eye color. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well that’s not right,” Sapnap, also looking curiously at the ID, stated. “Was it like that before?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“N-n-no it w-wasn’t!!!” George glitched out, snatching the card back, hoping fruitlessly that staring at it would make something change. All that happened is that the card glitched out much like he was currently breaking apart.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A dog bark broke him out of his thoughts. “Hey, can you get your dog away from the windows?” George looked up to see the realtor yelling at Dream, who was leaning up against the window of the house. A hand on his shoulder from Sapnap forced him to take some deep breaths to calm down. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry, sir. Hey Dream, come here, boy!” Dream ran over, panting just like a normal dog would.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You named him after Dream?” The realtor laughed, completely ignoring George having a borderline panic attack as he stared at his ID card.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yea, thought it was fitting,” the bandana-clad man laughed, petting Dream. Leaning in and letting Dream give him a “doggy kiss,” he nodded and inched closer to George. “Dude, the house has nothing in it. Empty as fuck,” he whispered to George discreetly. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Not even any furniture?” George breathed, afraid to make any noise at all.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“From what Dream gathered, nothing. Just dust.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“...Fuck.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey sir, are you alright? Will we have to do anything about ‘your house?’” the realtor interrupted. He crossed his arms and looked fairly annoyed at this point (even if he did look concerned about the level of glitching George was experiencing). “Because if not, I’ll have to ask you to leave.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>George frowned. “I- I guess n-not…” He sighed. “Just-</span>
  <em>
    <span> just forget I was ever here.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Suddenly, the realtor’s eyes glazed over. He stared into space for a short while before turning back to George. “Hello sir, can I help you with anything? Are you interested in this house?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I-” George looked around confused. “We j-just spoke?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ve never seen you before in my life,” the realtor commented.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What about him?” George pointed to Sapnap, who blinked as attention was focused on him.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yea I know who he is, his dog is adorable,” the realtor laughed. He leaned down and gave Dream a head scratch. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s… weird,” George frowned, suddenly feeling very confused and very tired. He headed over to Sapnap’s car, leaning back against it. He ran a hand through his hair. What the hell was going on with him? First he woke up with no memories, glitching out, then he met Dream and his friend, who said that he was working for a villain this whole time, and now his house, identity, and apparently existence kept disappearing? </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>In the midst of his crisis, Sapnap approached him, Dream in tow. The dog put a comforting paw on his foot, and Sap leaned against the car next to George. “You doing ok?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span></span>
    <br/>
  
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Absolutely not,” the glitch laughed. “Just found out that a-apparently I don’t legally e-exist, so that’s fun!” He swallowed. “F-fun. Yea.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“And you can make yourself disappear from people’s memories,” Dream spoke up from below. George jumped, glitching </span>
  <em>
    <span>into</span>
  </em>
  <span> the car (and accepting Sapnap’s hand to pull him out). “Sorry, don’t like not talking for a while,” he explained, shaking himself off like a dog. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“R-right, yea, add that to m-my growing l-l-list of weird glitchy things I c-can do now,” George snarked, then breathed out a heavy sigh. “What the hell is happening to me?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Whatever it is,” Sapnap began, “we can help figure it out with you, alright?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“And here you were reluctant to help,” Dream teased. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I have the right to change my mind,” Sapnap flushed red and stomped into the car as George and Dream laughed. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“But seriously,” Dream continued, walking over to the shotgun door, waiting for Sapnap to open it. “We’re here to help you out, alright?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>George smiled gratefully. “Thank you guys. Really. But, uhh…” he opened the passenger door and collapsed into the back seat, “I’m kinda homeless right n-now.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You can sleep in the warehouse if you want,” Sapnap suggested, closing his eyes in time for Dream to flash white and turn into his normal human form, pulling his green hoodie over his head and putting his signature mask on. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you s-sure?” George looked at the hero hopefully.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yea man, we don’t live in there,” Dream’s smile was visible as he adjusted the mask. “You’re welcome to use the couch.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“The one you left me on this morning?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s the bitch!” Laughter sounded through the car as Sapnap started the car. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They drove to the warehouse, some generic pop music playing on the radio that Dream and Sap were singing along to very loudly. In the midst of this, George noticed something off. There was a distant beeping in the back of his hearing range, and each time he turned around to see where it was, it stayed in the same spot. That, and a small dot at the corner of his vision kept appearing and reappearing rhythmically.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey d-do you guys hear that?” At his question, Sapnap paused his music. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hear what?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“That kinda uhh- beeping noise?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t hear anything,” Dream stated. “Do you hear it now?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yea, and it’s getting louder. Not- not unbearably so, but still loud.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Theory- THEORY!!” Sap spoke up. “Is it like… a rhythmic beeping? Like,” he imitated a series of soft beeps. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes? And there’s a w-weird dot in my vision.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What color is it?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>George was colorblind. This was an issue. But from color matching the dot to the traffic light ahead, “red, I think?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re low on battery.” Sapnap's response left both Dream and George looking at him confused. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not a f-fucking computer program,” the glitch said. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yea, but you’re a glitch, and if my theory of what happened to you at work is right, that- that means you’re running low on juice.” Sap looked at him in the rearview mirror. “You getting tired?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“...Actually, yea,” George realized after a brief scan of his physical state. He was still glitching pretty strongly, but he was also tired and ready to pass out at any moment. “Oh jeez, I’m REALLY t-tired.” A yawn only proved his point.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So what, do we plug him into an outlet?” Dream asked as Sapnap parked outside the warehouse finally. They all got out, and with the hero supporting the glitch so that he wouldn’t fall, they went inside the warehouse.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know, maybe?” Sapnap shrugged. As Dream and Sap talked amongst each other, George stared at the chunky PC in the back. The beeping was getting stronger and louder, and it intensified as he stared at the computer. He blinked and suddenly he was standing in front of it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“George?” He heard distantly before he touched the computer and promptly passed out.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. your george is fully charged</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>George wakes up. He fights a spider for a page and a half then goes online shopping.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hewwo i am not dead ;w; and while writing this (FUCK fight scenes i don't like writing them) i realized that this planned 3-parter is now gonna have to be a four parter. fucking imagine, me making more work for me 😔 but yknow what it'll be worth it in the end and then we can move on to sappy nappy</p><p>so because this is so late i decided to Spice It Up with some art! two whole pieces today because one needs a visual guide jdkhgjdgjhgjhdgf</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>George blinked his eyes open. Once again, he was in an unfamiliar place. Only this time, something was definitely wrong. He glanced to his left and immediately saw a burning building with a giant standing not far from it. He yelped in alarm and backed away from it, just to hit something. Turning around to investigate, he saw a floating purple box with the… Discord logo?</p><p> </p><p>That alone snapped him out of his panic, and he looked around some more. On second glance, the fire was static and unmoving, and the blurry figures of what could be people weren’t moving either. The giant was almost clipping through the ground, no body in sight. All he knew was that he was about the same height as her head poking out of the earth. And where she was looking was a big screen. It flickered in many colors (and George realized that he could see other colors! Red, purple, green, all were available to his vision now!) and a vague form of the warehouse showed behind it.</p><p> </p><p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>Stumbling his way closer to the screen, he put a hand on it. It fizzed and felt like sweet static. Looking past the fizzy wall, he focused on the details of the warehouse. Wherever he was, he was given enough access to the warehouse to see it, though the camera quality was absolute shit. George frowned, then pushed on the screen a little bit. </p><p> </p><p>And just like that he was stumbling out of the screen and crashed headfirst into the floor. Head submerged in the ground, he pushed himself up and through the floor, taking a deep breath as he escaped the clutches of stainless steel. He was still partly stuck in the desk chair, so after he untangled himself from it, he gathered himself and got to his feet. </p><p> </p><p>Now that he was free and back to his usual size, he could actually see where he was. The computer desktop showed the burning house meme, and a couple icons hovered on the left side and bottom bar. The giant was the smiling girl, who almost seemed to be looking directly at him.</p><p> </p><p>“Was I… <em> in </em> the computer?” George realized with a start. He squinted at the screen and saw small flickers of glitching - and it was in the same place as where he pressed against - before they faded and it went back to normal. George cursed under his breath.</p><p> </p><p>Looking around the warehouse, he found it empty. Neither Dream nor Sapnap were here, and the spider in the corner wasn’t paying him any mind- wait spider?</p><p> </p><p>He held his breath as he stared at the giant arachnid, hoping it didn’t spot him. Spiders didn’t do well with darkness and tended to attack whatever moved. Unfortunately for George, his body was still glitching out, a constant source of movement. His anxiety wasn’t helping matters, and eventually the spider fixed its red eyes on him (and he noted that, once again, he was colorblind). With an angry hiss, the giant beast charged.</p><p> </p><p>George yelped and ran away from it, knowing they weren’t the fastest in the world. But with no weapons he had no hope of defeating it, and it seemed to sense his fear as its mandibles clicked excitedly. He gulped and looked around for ANYTHING that could help.</p><p> </p><p>In the corner of the warehouse was a broom. Not his first choice, but the glitch was desperate. Unfortunately the spider was in his way, and he was faced with the possibility that it would bite him. And with the way it was charging at him right now it seemed he had little time to react, so he just <em> moved </em>.</p><p> </p><p>Turns out he moved pretty fast, as he immediately bonked his head against a wall. That confused him, as there was plenty of room between them before. Opening his eyes and organizing his stray pixels, he saw the broom in front of him, as was the corner. Turning back to the spider, he saw blue particles in front of where the spider just landed, who was just as confused as George was. Did he fucking <em>teleport???</em></p><p> </p><p>But as soon as it caught where he was now, it hissed and leapt at him. George grabbed the broom and smacked it out of the air, and it landed with a heavy thump. It shook itself off and hissed at him again. The glitch narrowed his eyes and gripped his broom tighter. The spider didn’t care, and charged again, forcing George to back off, smacking it fruitlessly, until his back hit a wall. </p><p> </p><p>The spider almost <em> laughed </em> at him, little chattering noises, before it pounced on him. One leg knocked his broom out of his hands, and it clattered a little ways away from him. The rest of it fell on George, biting into his arm. George yelled in pain, and his pixels went nuts. </p><p><br/>Though that maybe wasn’t the worst thing to happen. The second he felt his form giving out, he heard a glitchy screech that definitely wasn’t his, nor was it human. Forcing himself to look at the spider, he saw it glitching out as it scurried back. Taking the opportunity, he snatched up the broom and rushed at it, smacking it with all the strength his office worker arms had. </p><p> </p><p>After a bit, the spider crawled away from him and the broom, though it looked weaker. Spiders aren't really known for their health. Deciding to test his running theory, George smirked at it. </p><p> </p><p>“Is that the best you’ve got? I’ve almost killed you!” he taunted it, not caring if it understood him. With a feral hiss, it jumped at him again, and he dodged with a yelp. Letting his hand glitch out, he slapped it on the spider, and spared a triumphant smile as he saw it fall back and glitch in agony. </p><p> </p><p>With a final smack, the weakened spider fell to the floor and he finished it off. George panted from exertion, broom clutched tightly in his arms. Poking the arachnid with his foot, he made sure it was dead. When it didn’t move, he barked a small laugh, one that slowly evolved into a full-blown laugh, relishing the victory he just accomplished. </p><p> </p><p>As his laughing fit ended, George flopped down on the couch, thankfully not falling through. He began to wonder about what he did, during that fight. He seemingly teleported, he glitched the spider out, and it really didn’t like that. He knew he wasn’t really human anymore, what with the falling through objects and glitching out, but these were straight up superpowers. Guess that’s what happens when you hang with a superhero for long enough - you get your own ideas about heroism.</p><p> </p><p>Though, as he looked down at himself, he frowned. He was probably like… <em> this… </em> for a full day, if not longer. He was still in his shitty dress shirt and tie, his work clothes. Not like he <em> could </em> work anymore, since he was fired and his boss was a supervillain. But he did have superpowers now, and a warehouse full of shit. And, some helpful part of his brain reminded, a computer connected to the internet. Surely if he could sit inside the lock screen of a PC, he could access a webpage. George smiled as an idea hit him. He made his way over to the computer, and hopped inside with a burst of blue particles.</p><p> </p><p>--</p><p> </p><p>When Dream and ████ ran into the warehouse, needing to trace the location of George’s boss (and to check if George was ok), they didn’t expect to see someone just… doing stretches by the computer. He had white clout glasses, a teal turtleneck, and a sash that seemed to hold a static image, not moving while the figure moved. Though it should’ve been obvious to figure out right away that that was George.</p><p> </p><p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>“George? The fuck are you wearing?” ████ crossed his arms. George seemed to perk up at their presence.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh! I killed a s-spider!” Sure enough, they looked down at the floor to see a spider carapace curled up by the couch.</p><p> </p><p>“I thought you cleaned the nest out, Dream,” ████ scolded. </p><p> </p><p>“Guess I missed one,” Dream rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Still doesn’t answer █- Sapnap's question.”</p><p> </p><p>“I went online a-and got some clothes.” George said this so matter-of-factly that ████ had to blink in confusion to process that. </p><p> </p><p>“Who’s credit card did you use?” Dream rushed to the computer, opening whatever George had just closed. </p><p> </p><p>“Nobody’s,” George skipped over to the pc. “Just picked it up from images.”</p><p> </p><p>A moment of silence passed. Then, ████ eloquently spoke up. “What.”</p><p> </p><p>Something seemed to click for George, who smirked and touched the computer. He immediately vanished in a puff of blue particles, leaving Dream, sitting next to him, to yelp. Then, from the shitty computer speakers he had hooked up, came a tinny voice.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m in here!” ████ frowned and pushed his roommate out of the way to snatch the computer from him. Minimizing several store tabs, he made his way to the bare desktop, where his burning house background had a new visitor. George, against all odds, stood there and gave them a thumbs up. </p><p> </p><p>“Oh my god he’s tiny!” Dream wheezed behind him as Sapnap let out a sharp laugh himself. Indeed, George was about the height of a chapstick, bouncing naturally on the screen. </p><p> </p><p>“How the- how’d you do that?” ████ asked. George looked down at the taskbar and opened up Chrome, showing off the clothing store he based his current outfit on. </p><p> </p><p>“I just, uh, opened up a clothing s-store,” the glitch began, grabbing one of the shirts for sale like it was an item on a clothing rack. “Then I made s-sure the item was- was my size, and j-just kinda… grabbed it?” He demonstrated by pulling the tshirt over his head. The display image for it was gone. </p><p> </p><p>“What about the, uh, display image?” ████ continued.</p><p> </p><p>George frowned. “I just- copy pasted it? It’s n-not that hard.” </p><p> </p><p>“He’s got a point,” Dream leaned on his roommate’s head, who batted him away. “Why this specific outfit though?”</p><p> </p><p>“It was the most superhero-like,” George shrugged. He ran to the corner of the screen and pushed through, appearing on the other side with a puff of blue. Dream whistled, impressed. </p><p> </p><p>“Superhero? You trying to be my sidekick or something?” the hero joked, moving back to the spider to dispose of it. </p><p> </p><p>“Less sidekick and m-more… partner in heroics?” The glitch shrugged, unsure. “I figured out s-some powers while fighting that spider. See- watch!” With another puff of blue, he teleported in front of Dream, who let out an undignified screech in surprise (and of course ████ laughed at him). He picked the spider up, groaning under its weight, then teleported into the corner of the warehouse, dropped it there, and teleported back. “I can do that now!”</p><p> </p><p>“YOOOOOOO YOU CAN TELEPORT?” ████ exclaimed, suddenly VERY excited. </p><p> </p><p>George grinned back. “You fuckin bet! And I can g-go inside computers to charge-” so that’s why he vanished into the pc last night, Sapnap realized, “-and I can s-still code while in there!”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh yea, wasn’t your job to code?” Dream remembered. “Make some program for your boss?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yea. I also found a virus on the computer - n-nasty piece of work, that one,” George frowned at the PC. </p><p> </p><p>“...George did you fist fight a computer virus?” At ████’s comment, George laughed again and Dream turned into a tea kettle (figuratively). </p><p> </p><p>“T-technically yes!” The glitch looked so damn proud of himself that Sapnap joined in the laughter.</p><p> </p><p>A soft beeping caught their attention. Sapnap rushed to check the notification, recognizing it as his “hero alarm” he set up for when someone tagged Dream in a post to ask for help. The hero alarm went off several more times, revealing this to be an actual threat. George and Dream gathered around him, staring at the screen as he surfed the alerts.</p><p> </p><p>“Downtown,” the hero read, frowning behind his mask (Sapnap knew his best friend well enough to tell when he was frowning, even when his face was invisible). “Oh shit- George it’s your boss, isn’t it?”</p><p> </p><p>George squinted at the image someone sent, blurry and low quality. “Looks l-like it,” he confirmed. “You’re gonna g-go fight him?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yup,” Dream confirmed, shoving a communicator in his pocket. “Keep on the alerts, Sap.”</p><p> </p><p>“Will do, Dreambo,” ████ confirmed as Dream prepared to morph.</p><p> </p><p>“W-wait!” George spoke up. Both roommates looked at him curiously. He bit his lip at the attention. “I was just th-thinking that, maybe I-I could come w-with you? To fight him?”</p><p> </p><p>Dream cocked his head. “You may have fought a spider and a computer virus,” he began, “but you don’t have experience with fighting people yet. Especially not a potential danger like your old boss is. Better sit this one out.”</p><p> </p><p>“Ok,” George frowned. He didn’t seem content by his comment. </p><p> </p><p>Sapnap huffed. “Ok, Blade.” His teasing comment was cut off by the downright <em> scary </em> look the masked hero gave him. That mask was fucking terrifying. “..sry,” he ended up muttering, not wanting to be on cranky Dream’s bad side.</p><p> </p><p>“You're good. Keep me updated, Sapnap,” Dream finally said, rushing outside, morphing into a bird, and flying away. George and ████ watched him fly off, hoodie clasped in his talons. The glitch immediately headed over to the computer, prompting ████ to follow. </p><p> </p><p>“Where are you going? I man the computer,” he said.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m not gonna mess with your work, man,” George muttered before hopping into the computer. “I’m gonna go help Dream.”</p><p> </p><p>“...How exactly are you gonna do that then?”</p><p> </p><p>Tiny computer George smirked a huge grin. “I’m a p-professional hacker. He’s fighting a man who works primarily w-with electronics. I- I think I can handle this. Th-this is MY domain.” </p><p> </p><p>Sapnap smirked back. “Hell YEA let’s fuck that bitch up!” And with that, he opened Twitter.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>i crave sapnap/george interactions. they're very epic</p><p>also i have no idea how hacking works</p><p>edit: OK BECAUSE PPL ARE CONFUSED the spider is like a minecraft spider! they're up to waist height and george went back to normal height when he left the computer. giant spiders are the norm here</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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